From overtourism to no-tourism : costs and benefits of extreme volume of tourism traffic as perceived by inhabitants of two Polish destinations

Overtourism might be one of the most characteristic trends and phenomena of tourism in the 2010s. However, after a rapid transformation caused by overtourism, an even faster and more unexpected change appeared in 2020: due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism temporarily disappeared from cities and other destinations worldwide. These two opposite and extreme phenomena were so close in time that they can be compared and their perception by different tourism stakeholders can be analyzed. Host communities were often major victims of overtourism, which led to the development of anti-tourism attitudes in many destinations. However, many inhabitants were also severely affected by the recent decline in tourism, as plenty of them depended economically on tourist arrivals and tourism revenues. This research is conducted for two of the most important destinations in Poland: Kraków and Białka Tatrzańska. The study aims to compare how the transformations to and from overtourism are perceived by inhabitants of these two typical and important tourism destinations. The results show that the impact of tourism was not perceived as crucial by the residents of either destination and that this remains true for both overtourism and no-tourism. However, the economic importance of tourism was strongly emphasized. Additionally, the indicated impact of tourism on their lives and their destination was much stronger for the residents of Białka Tatrzańska than those of Kraków. The study aims to fill the knowledge gap regarding how tourism development (including overtourism and no-tourism) is perceived by inhabitants of cities and tourism resorts, particularly in terms of experiencing the benefits and costs of both extreme situations

Incorporating the value proposition for society with business models of health tourism enterprises

This article discusses the need to expand the concept of the value proposition, in order that this business model component includes the value for a customer, the value captured by the enterprise, and the value for the community, as well as benefits for the natural environment. The objective of the article is to identify sustainable development components that have been proposed for tourist enterprises in the research literature. The article proposes actions to complement existing tourist enterprises business models in order to give them the characteristics of a sustainable business model and to implement practices of value creation for the community. The research notes that the value captured by an enterprise determines the level of implementation of its economic objectives resulting from the value creation for the customer and implementation of social objectives (including pro-ecologic ones). The revenues of an enterprise depend, first of all, on meeting the expectations of the customer, meaning that they depend on the value proposition for the customer, and their volume will allow researchers to determine the possibility of creating value for the community. The expected tendency to create value for the community is argued to be proportional to the effectiveness of customer value influence, less the value captured by the enterprise. After an initial review of relevant literature, attention is focused on health tourism enterprises and how these principals can be applied in that context

Willingness to pay for sustainable hotel services as a perspective of pro-environmental behaviors of hotel guests

Pro-environmental behaviors foster hotel sustainability, including the achievement of environmental goals. The willingness to pay more for sustainable hotel services should be considered a key pro-environmental behavior. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between hotel guests' willingness to pay more for sustainable services in regard to their pro-environmental behavior and selected socioeconomic characteristics. Two main research methods were used: a systematic literature review and a diagnostic survey. A total of 1317 questionnaires were collected from guests of six Polish hotels. The relationship between guests' willingness to pay more for sustainable hotel services and their environmental beliefs was observed. Relationships (positive and negative) between pro-environmental (mitigating) behaviors and willingness to pay higher costs for sustainable services were also noted. Moreover, guests with a higher financial status and education as well as younger guests were found to be more likely to accept higher prices for sustainable hotel services

Proposal for the implementation of pro-environmental behaviours in the form of open eco-innovations : a perspective of consumers of hotel services

The role of eco-innovations in the contemporary hotel business is not only a marketing façade aiming at at tracting the attention of a potential guest with a high environmental awareness, but more and more often it becomes a form of the operationalisation of environmental objectives inscribed in hotels’ strategies. However, these objectives cannot exist only in the minds of hotel employees and managers, but should be communicated to all stakeholders, including hotel guests. Looking at the problem of environmental degradation more broadly, it is worth noting that the need to reverse the anti-ecological tendencies of world economies is becoming not so much a regional challenge as a global one. Thus, pro-ecological solutions implemented in individual hotels and even hotel chains cannot remain the exclusive domain of such establishments, but should be popularised, or at least easily accessible to other hotel chains, which, in this respect, function as coopetitors with the same goal in mind rather than competitors. The cognitive aim of this study is to identify the characteristic features of ecological awareness and to propose recommendations for pro-ecological behaviours in the form of open eco-innovations. The achievement of this objective required the execution of a research project involving 1351 hotel guests. The research was carried out using a questionnaire method in Poland’s largest cities during the holiday months of 2021. The general willingness to incur additional financial burdens related to pro-ecological measures is de clared by slightly more than one third of respondents. The vast majority of hotel guests choose to accept a variety of pro-ecological measures and restrictions

Efficiency of website service in polish spas enterprises

The main aim of this study is to investigate the usefulness of websites selected spas enterprises in Poland. The analysis included 37 Polish websites spa business. The efficiency of web service tested by masked surveys (mystery shopping), and using a ethical conduct code in the operation of medical HONcode websites

Impact of tourist trips on seniors’ migrations – case study from Poland

Understanding elderly consumers’ behaviour can be an effective tool for planning the tourist market. The changing demographic structure of the population poses new challenges, which require greater involvement of both the state and the private sector in addressing the issues of the aging society. The main objective of the article was to determine whether seniors’ tourist trips impacted on their final migration. An additional purpose was to establish the senior migrant profile. In order to answer the research question, primary quantitative research was performed, which consisted in collecting information from respondents through a standardized questionnaire. To systematize the reasons for seniors’ migrations, a cluster analysis (Ward’s method) was applied. The seniors moved to places where they found a clean environment of considerable tourist values. The migration improved their living standards and life quality. Almost half of the pensioners had previously visited the place where they moved to permanently

An Analytical Model of Tourist Destination Development and Characteristics of the Development Stages: Example of the Island of Bornholm

This paper presents the basis of the tourism area life cycle (TALC) concept and its extension in the context of the implementation of sustainable development practices in the tourist business model. The author uses the logistic function to determine the level of tourist absorption and capacity. The empirical basis of the methods used was statistics on the development of the tourist industry on Bornholm. The objective of the paper is to determine the stage of development of the tourist area of Bornholm and the consequences of this stage for business models of tourist enterprises functioning there. The results of the analysis indicate that the range of tourist absorption was reached in the 1960s–1970s, and that it is currently getting closer to the upper threshold of that range. Tourism on Bornholm, in line with the TALC concept, is currently in the stabilization stage. Future tourist trends on Bornholm depend on many factors; however, if tourist development goes into the decline stage, the offered products may require transformation, in terms of both transport and the form and availability of tourist attractions. Perhaps this will involve a total transformation of the island into a facility with a specific entertainment, leisure, or business profile. The listed solutions will require entrepreneurs to react within the scope of a transformation of their business models into sustainable models of tourist business

The Sustainable Business Model of Spa Tourism Enterprise—Results of Research Carried Out in Poland

The article presents the results of the analysis of the elements of business models of spa tourism enterprises in the context of the principles of sustainable development in tourism business. In the process of defining individual rules for tourist enterprises, an approach based on sustainable tourism criteria and an attempt to adjust them to individual conditions resulting from the specifics of the tourist business activity being carried out was proposed. The characteristics of the individual components of business models were based on the results of interviews conducted in 17 tourism enterprises. The CANVAS scheme was used to examine the structure of the business model. It was found that the business models of spa tourism enterprises not only fail to conform to the principles of sustainable development, but are also not used as managerial tools. Their knowledge among managers is very poor. The analysis was supplemented with additional roles played by Polish sanatoriums in preventing the SARS-Cov2 virus pandemic. The research also revealed an example of cooperation between several spa companies, in the framework of coopetition and exchange of knowledge and services, which can be considered as the initiation of cooperation based on open innovation

The Willingness of Tourism-Friendly Cities’ Representatives to Share Innovative Solutions in the Form of Open Innovations

The tendency of enterprises to use open innovations can be seen in the literature in many areas of research and practical application. However, the use of the concept of open innovation in local administration entities is less noticeable. The research gap in this area prompts the authors to examine such a tendency among city representatives in the example of the Tourism Friendly Cities (TFC) group. TFC is a group of nine tourism destinations that are also European cities struggling with the impact of modern tourism. They take part in the URBACT program under the European Territorial Cooperation program. The goal of the article is to identify the basic problems of TFCs with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to assess the propensity of TFC representatives to transfer innovative solutions in the form of open innovation. The article presents findings based on interviews with 104 experts from these cities, consisting of representatives of the public and private sectors. Research results indicate that the key problems of modern tourism in TFCs include constraints related to the lack of parking spaces, high rents and high prices of land, and short-term rental housing. The experts recommend measures to increase resilience and competitiveness initiated by business owners and at the initiative of the local administration. Key tools in this regard include and local community communication and engagement, creating attractions that benefit both residents and visitors, and measuring and monitoring tourism. In all, 92.8% of the experts believe that the right solution for the development of methods and tools for stakeholder cooperation in TFCs is to share the developed solutions in the form of open innovation